The House of Sarilhos Grandes was designed in our studio during the spring of 2007 for a lot in Sarilhos, Portugal.
Now that the construction will soon begin, there are three peculiarities in this house of which we are particularly enthusiastic: the garden and its wall; the two bodies of the house so distinct in their form and inner space; and the way it will be built.


the garden and the wall:

Antique places have landmarks – buildings, squares and gardens – that help us recognize and appreciate the places we live in. New places, like the one which our clients chose to build their house, lack these qualities. For this reason it became important to built them, creating for the house a new context and surrounding.
This is the reason why the fence wall of this house doesn’t correspond to the limits of the property: it anticipates these limits by inventing beyond this wall a scenery of woods with fruits and laurel trees.


the two bodies of the house:

One of the certainties of our clients for the house was that the private areas – rooms, office and private bathrooms – should be completely separated from the living room, kitchen and the rest of the social areas.
For these areas to become, not only separated but also have completely different atmospheres we gave them distinct shapes , creating quiet and withdrawn spaces for the rooms, and gathering the living room, dining room and kitchen in one spacious area with two large windows facing the garden.
From these two windows we can see the wall approaching the house, becoming one of its interior walls, or moving away becoming part of the horizon.

house construction:

This house should be spacious, inexpensive and fast to build.
For this purpose we designed a light steel structure, covered with wood composite panels, plastered and reinforced in the exterior and with thermal isolation in the interior.

We predict that the house construction that now begins will take four months to be completed.

2007